The
photo at right shows the compact umbel of white flowers of Cymopterus nivalis,
as seen on the high ridges of the Steens Mt of southeastern Oregon.........July
16, 2000.
Elko Springs parsley is a perennial wildflower with several ascending flower stems arising 3-15 cm from a dense duft of basal leaves. The herbage is mostly rough and granular or occasionally glabrous. The leaf blades are 1-5 cm long and from 0.3-1.5 cm wide. The blades are almost bipinnatifid or tripinnatifid with 4-8 pairs of primary leaflets (See photo below.). The segments of the leaflets are crowded and from 1-3 mm long. The petiole is shorter than to nearly as long as the leaf blade.
The inflorescence is a small, compact umbel up to 1 cm wide in flower and up to 2 cm in fruit. The umbel is divided into 3-8 rays from 2-4 mm long or may consist of 2 small umbellets, one of which is sessile and the other 1 mm long. Several narrow, linear bractlets with membranous margins subtend each of the small umbellets. The flowers are white with purple anthers. The fruit are 3-6 mm long and dorsally compressed with broad wings.
Elko Springs parsley is found on high rocky ridges or in dry alpine meadows. It is occasionally found under alpine conifers. Plants ar typically found between the elevations of 2700-3300 meters.
Elko Springs parsley may be found from the Strawberry Mts. of central Oregon, north central Lake County, and the Steens Mt in southeastern Oregon. It is also found in the mountains of western Montana, western Wyoming, and central and eastern Nevada.
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